


Come As You Are

by chloebeale



Category: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/M, Gen, M/M, Nerdiness, Parallel Universes, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-08
Updated: 2012-12-08
Packaged: 2017-11-20 14:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/586480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloebeale/pseuds/chloebeale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benji Applebaum has high hopes for his time at Barden University. He has his heart set on joining the Barden Treblemakers, a crush on his roommate and a passion for magic. However, nothing turns out quite like he’d hoped. He begins to wonder if maybe it would be better if he acted a little more normal. This experiment doesn’t last long, though, because Benji can’t be anyone but himself. Luckily he will eventually discover that there’s nothing wrong with being a little different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come As You Are

If there was one thing that Benji was dreading the most about college, it was having a roommate. He didn’t have the best experiences with other people, namely other guys, in his past educational endeavors. He was constantly getting tossed into dumpsters and given swirlies in the bathroom. He was always receiving wedgies and pantsings paired with such well-crafted insults as “fag” and “queer”.

With the unfortunate tendency Benji had to annoy most of his peers, the whole roommate thing had the potential to be very bad. Barden _did_ have its students fill out a form that was meant to match people up to be roommates based on their personality, though.

Maybe he’d luck out and his roomie would be someone just as nerdy and scrawny as him. Then he wouldn’t have to spend each day hiding from someone who wanted to kick his ass all the time. Maybe they’d even forge an unbreakable friendship much akin to that of Sheldon and Leonard in Big Bang Theory.

If his parents had the money, he would’ve had them spring for a single room, but he knew they could barely afford the current tuition and boarding costs, let alone the extra few thousand it would cost to room alone. And so Benji resigned himself to a year living with a stranger, hoping for the best.

His parents dropped him off at the university much earlier than most students. This meant he arrived at the dorm before pretty much anyone else. He spent his time setting up the room customizations that he’d transferred from his own bedroom back home.

If he was going to live in a new place, at least he could make it feel familiar. It gave him an odd sense of pride to see his handiwork, a Star Wars shrine even Star Wars super fan Kevin Smith would be impressed by.

Just as he finished hanging his ‘May the Force Be with You’ sign, his roommate walked in. Benji turned around, his cape swishing as he made the quick motion and his eyes found the other boy’s.

His name was Jesse, he knew from the paper he’d received, and he definitely looked like a Jesse. He didn’t look mean, though, and he was actually…well…he was really cute.

“There he is,” he said a little to himself before stepping forward, “I’m Benji, you must be Jesse.”

Benji shook his roommate’s hand, admiring his firm handshake as well as the tight t-shirt he was wearing that rippled in all the right places.

“And you must be kidding,” Jesse responded, causing Benji’s heart to drop a little.

Maybe he wasn’t as nice as he looked. But he wasn’t punching him in the face, so that was a good start. His face fell as Jesse walked over to look at his setup.

“Wow,” the brunette commented.

“Looking at it now, I can see that it’s a bit much,” Benji admitted, feeling like a complete dork now that he saw Jesse’s reaction to what he thought was the coolest room design ever, “I can take it down.”

“No, no way. I mean, it took a second for my eyes to adjust, but I can roll with this.”

Benji smiled then, relieved to hear his words. It would be a pain in the butt to take the whole thing down, plus then he wouldn’t feel nearly as comfortable in his new dorm room.

“Look, just so you know, I’m not a total nerd,” he assured his roommate, wanting to make sure he knew that he could be cool too, “I also happen to be super into close up magic.”

Moving his arms he revealed a mouse he’d been carrying around for days, just on the off chance he’d be able to use his trick. Jesse looked visibly impressed and Benji mentally applauded himself.

“Dude, that’s awesome,” he didn’t notice Jesse’s forced tone of voice, “how long was that little guy in there?”

“Several days,” Benji replied as he pet the rodent—it wasn’t a big deal; he’d fed him and everything.

“Huh. Well that’s…totally cool,” Jesse dropped his bag on his bed and sat down, rifling through some of his things, “so besides Star Wars and magic, what are you into?”

Benji took the mouse and put him in his cage before carefully considering the question.

“Music. Specifically acapella singing. I’m not sure if you’re aware but we have four campus acapella groups here at Barden and I intend to audition. Also I’m a fan of several television shows, including Big Bang Theory, Star Trek, Sherlock and Dr. Who. A few animated series, as well. As for movies, I love superhero films, especially the X-Men franchise and Batman. And books… I love the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Lord of the Rings. Oh and I forgot to mention Monty Python, have you ever seen the Holy Grail please tell me you have or I’m going to have to remedy this situation immediately,” he knew he was talking a lot but he couldn’t help it, his interests were vast and he had to include a smattering of them so that Jesse would understand his overall personality.

“Huh,” Jesse remarked, nodding a little, “Never seen any of those shows, except maybe an episode of the Big Bang Theory. Gotta respect all the Batman films, and of course I’ve seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I love movies; they’re my favorite thing besides music. I want to score movies.”

“No way, really? Like John Williams?”

“Yeah! Exactly. And man, I have to admit, I really like Star Wars,” Jesse grinned, “maybe not quite as much as you given that I didn’t decorate my side of the room the way you did, but then again, I’m a simple kind of guy when it comes to interior decorating.”

Benji couldn’t help but smile, beyond excited that he actually had things in common with his roommate. They both liked music (then again who didn’t) and both had good taste in movies, apparently, and he liked Star Wars?

This could not get any better! Well, it already had, because Jesse was ridiculously good looking and he’d be lying if he said he wouldn’t enjoy seeing him in various states of undress around the room…

“Understandable. We should totally have a marathon night! Classes don’t start until Monday, and we definitely have time to watch the entire original trilogy at least, what do you say?” Benji asked.

His roommate shrugged, stacking some school books on a shelf nearby.

“Sure, why not?”

“Awesome!” Benji exclaimed happily, slipping off his cape, “so who’s your favorite Star Wars character?”

Jesse thought for a moment before answering, “Han Solo, definitely.”

“Solid choice. C3PO’s my favorite, actually, although I can see the merits of Han Solo. You’re both very handsome men, as well,” he offered awkwardly.

“Uh, well thanks, Benji,” Jesse chuckled, “so, you up for this activities fair thing? You said something about auditioning for a singing group. I figured I might sign up for something or other. I heard the radio station’s looking for interns.”

The curly haired freshman nodded emphatically, grabbing his jacket and putting it on before deciding to forgo it completely.

 It was important he made a good first impression on the Trebles. He admired them so much, they were basically his music heroes, and he had to make sure they liked him and became his friends.

 Their voices would make sweet melodies together. He could actually sing with the infamous Bumper Allen. God, it was his dream. Well, that and becoming a Jedi, but his acapella dream was much more likely to become a reality.

He and Jesse headed out of the dorm building and toward the quad where the activities fair was being held. They were just walking inside when the fraternity brothers passed them, chanting incoherently about whatever it was frats were for.

Frats were full of the type of guys that Benji was trying his best to avoid, and so he slid past them and prayed none of them would sense his weakness. But when he heard their error in speech, he had to correct it.

“That’s a double negative!” he called after them, hoping that his comment wouldn’t cause him to get beaten up.

Maybe it was Jesse’s presence that prevented that from happening or maybe college was different from high school. Either way he liked it already.

“That’s a lot of negatives,” his roommate responded jovially as they continued down the concrete walk.

It was then Benji spied them. The Trebles.

“Follow me,” he told Jesse, “there’s only one group on this campus worth joining.”

Stepping forward he approached the Trebles, not getting too close yet but wanting to give his new friend a view of what they were about.

They were in close enough range to see and hear them, while not having to engage them. Benji wasn’t ready for that stage yet, he had to put on his schmoozing gloves for that one.

“As far as Barden goes, that’s what being a man’s all about,” Benji explained to him.

The Trebles began their impromptu performance of Whip It and Benji stopped for a moment, admiring their impeccable voices, especially that of their leader, Bumper Allen. The God of Campus. His new best friend. Well, hopefully.

“The Treblemakers, the rock stars of acapella, the messiahs of Barden. You know, not including athletes, frat guys and actual ‘cool’ people,” he told his roommate as he adoringly watched the group of singing men before them.

“Organized nerd singing. This is great,” Jesse quipped.

“Yeah, it makes so much sense. How’s your voice?” Benji asked curiously, wondering if he had any competition in auditioning for the Treblemakers, if Jesse was even interested.

Jesse launched into a couple bars of the song, sounding pretty damn impressive for someone who supposedly had no outward interest in acapella singing. He couldn’t help but move a little in time with Jesse’s singing, amazed by his voice and realizing his crush was absolutely solidified.

“Oh. Nice!”

Benji played it off like it wasn’t a huge deal even though his heart was racing just from those few lines of the song. Jesse looked and sang like a Disney prince, _and_ he liked Star Wars? He was perfect. Except for being perfectly heterosexual.

The two of them stood mildly close together for another few moments before Benji prepared himself to approach the Trebles.

“I'm gonna go introduce myself. Everybody be cool. It's just a normal day,” he said, more to make himself feel better than anything before he walked over awkwardly with Jesse trailing behind him.

“Hi, hi,” he greeted and pointed to his chest. “Benjamin Applebaum. I saw you guys perform at Mall of America like three years ago,” he put his hands together, looking away, not wanting to meet their eyes, “Totally changed my life. I have not stopped thinking about you since.”

Bumper made a disgruntled face, but maybe he just had gas or something.

“Thank you.”

“Uh, Bumper,” He couldn't believe he was really talking to him! “Huge fan. Your arrangement of Lovin' Spoonfuls’ ‘ _Do You Believe in Magic_ ’ inspired me to become a certified illusionist,” he pulled a kerchief between his hands, seemingly from nowhere, waiting for them to be impressed.

“Wow,” Jesse said from beside him.

Bumper stared at him with a strange expression.

“The smell of your weirdness is actually affecting my vocal chords, so I'm gonna need you to scoot, skedaddle.”

Wow, harsh much? Benji shrank back a little, his feelings hurt.

Bumper didn't seem like this kind of person when he had heard him perform. His voice was so sweet and loving when he sang that it was hard to believe he could be a jerk in real life. This was almost as bad as that time Benji ate an entire ice cream cake before remembering he was lactose intolerant.

In an attempt to save himself from this embarrassing write-off, he stepped forward.

“Why don't we just exchange emails and then totally hang out right now together?” Benji tried again.

Bumper shook his head so quickly that his cheeks actually moved.

"No. Hard pass. Hard pass."

Benji's face fell and a moment later, he felt Jesse's hands on his back, encouraging him to walk away. With his touch he felt empowered and he turned around, feeling his roommate pat his back supportively.

His entire body grew warm and tingly, so much in fact that he didn't even care when he heard Bumper speak to the Trebles about what a nerd he was.

“Too far,” Jesse commented as they walked away, one hand on Benji's back and the other on his chest. Why was he touching him like this? It was nice...

“You think?” Benji wondered as Jesse withdrew the hand that was on his chest, leaving the other on his back while they walked together.

“Yeah.”

“Should I have done another trick?"

“No, I think your trick was fine. It was the talking that was a little weird…” well, at least Jesse was honest, “Maybe you could try to Facebook message them.”

Benji nodded, that was a solid plan. He already had the Treblemakers’ official Facebook page on his likes list, under both his heroes AND his musical choices. He accompanied Jesse over to the booth for the radio station, watching him rifle through the fliers and fill out a form for submission.

“Alright, got that out of the way. Ready for our marathon? I’ve got popcorn back at the room, if we can find a microwave we can totally do this right,” Jesse remarked before he turned in the form and looked over at Benji with a charming smile.

“Oh. Yeah. There’s a microwave in the lounge of our dorm building. Scoped it out earlier. We have six bathrooms in the building too, by the way. And five exits, if you include the emergency fire exit—” noticing the way that Jesse was staring at him, he stopped himself, “I tend to be thorough. Oh! We can push our beds together!”

“Yeah…I don’t know about that.”

They didn’t end up pushing their beds together. Apparently that was too weird. Instead, Jesse invited Benji to sit over in his bed and watch the film on his laptop.

Though Benji preferred to watch the sanctity that was Star Wars on a larger screen capable of high definition display, he had to admit that he didn’t mind watching the movie in such close proximity to his attractive roommate, who seemed to smell like a delightful mixture of pine needles and Axe body spray.

“This popcorn is heavenly,” Benji hazarded a comment as he shoveled a handful of kernels into his mouth while Jesse got the movie started.

“I’ve got like a whole box of popcorn. I always have to eat it when I watch movies. Gotta keep it real, y’know?” he grew silent when the score began, booming loudly out of his laptop speakers.

The corners of Jesse’s lips turned up into a smile and he leaned back on his pillow, humming along to the score and playfully punching Benji in the arm to get him to do the same. They were full out belting the theme song when the door opened and a guy neither of them recognized appeared in the doorway.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt. I’m Jeremy. I’m your RA down in 22, so if you ever need anything just drop by,” the guy said dully, giving them a strange glance and waiting a moment for one of them to say something in response.

“Yeah, cool, will do,” Jesse paused the film and watched as the room advisor left and closed the door behind him, “We are _never_ gonna live that down.”

“So?” Benji shrugged, popping another kernel into his mouth.

“You’re right. Who cares?” he laughed, reaching into the popcorn bowl, his hand touching Benji’s.

The curly haired boy immediately withdrew his hand, his cheeks flushing. Jesse didn’t seem to notice. He pressed play and the score continued, the two of them continuing loudly where they had left off.

Benji fell asleep sometime during the second film, and when he woke up he noticed that Jesse had fallen asleep too. The DVD was stuck on the main menu. Closing the laptop, he placed it gingerly on the desk and looked back over at his sleeping roommate. He grinned.

The next day he busied himself with preparing for auditions.

Apparently he and Jesse were both trying out, so they kept busting out performance after performance of Since U Been Gone, which was neither of their favorite songs. Benji was impressed by how amazing Jesse sounded with the exception of a couple of the higher notes, which he himself had no problems hitting.

“This is in the bag,” Benji decided after they finished practicing, taking a swig of Gatorade, “I’m losing electrolytes like crazy,” he explained.

“Yeah, you’re pretty good, Benji. Better than I am. They’ll have no choice but to let you in once they hear how talented you are. You’re a way better singer than what’s-his-face.”

“It means a lot to me that you’d say that. D’you wanna have a lightsaber fight?”

Benji held up two of his lightsabers and Jesse nodded, grabbing the blue one and pushing the button for it to light up. It made a sound and he gasped a little, running his hands over the blade.

“Dude, this is the most legit saber I’ve ever seen,” he admitted.

“They cost me a pretty penny. I had to save up from my babysitting jobs to get them, but it was so worth it. Even if Susan shaved off half my eyebrow that one time…”

Turning on his own lightsaber, Benji stepped back a little, preparing himself for battle. Then he and Jesse spent an intense ten minutes fighting, a fight which resulted in Jesse being cornered and sliced in half.

“Ha. You are no match for my superior Jedi skills!”

“No. No, I am not,” Jesse laughed, turning off the lightsaber and returning it to its stand.

He glanced at his cell phone and saw the time. It was nearing time for auditions and he reminded Benji, who suddenly looked nervous.

After being assured that he was going to be okay by his roommate, which he most definitely appreciated, Benji and Jesse left for auditions. He sang the song over again in his head as he walked to the building where auditions were being held.

As he stepped onto the stage he felt the nerves disappear, replaced instead by feelings of warmth and joy. He began the song confidently.

Part of this was due to his awesome faux-tie shirt, which made him look classy without actually any effort. It was classic, and the shirt always made him feel good.

Once he was finished singing his rendition of Since U Been Gone, Benji heard a healthy amount of applause. No one was booing him or throwing rotten fruit at him, which was a nice change.

"Thank you. Performing live gives me such a rush," he said, his voice getting a little caught in his throat on the way out.

He was near tears, actually, just from the positive reaction to his singing. It felt amazing to be on stage in front of everyone, including the Trebles, who would undoubtedly see how great his voice was and be forced to include him in their dream team. Or so he hoped.

Benji went back to sit in the audience, interested to watch the other auditions. Jesse still hadn’t gone yet and he at least wanted to watch his. It was the least he could to do support his only friend.

There were a few truly awful auditions but Benji had to credit them for trying, and finally Jesse came on stage, looking determined and absolutely perfect on stage, like he belonged there.

And then his mouth opened. His voice, akin to sweet angels singing a Hallelujah chorus, sprang from his pink lips. Lips that always seemed to be well moisturized. Benji wondered absently if Jesse was an avid user of Chapstick before turning his attention back to his voice, which only seemed to grow more powerful as the song continued.

When Jesse finished the last note, Benji sprang up from his chair and clapped loudly. A few people looked back at him but he didn’t care, beaming at his roommate as he descended the stage and joined him in the audience.

“You were so good!” he told Jesse when he sat down next to him.

“Thanks. I got a little shaky on a few notes, though. You were great. So now what?”

“We wait for callbacks I guess.”

Benji didn’t get called back. He did, however, receive a heads up that the Trebles would be breaking into his dorm room and stealing Jesse for their initiation ceremony.

He waited anxiously, trying not to seem like he knew anything was about to happen. Jesse asked him what was up but he said he was meditating. Even though it was a huge lie and lying made him get all blotchy and sweaty. Luckily Jesse didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, the Trebles burst through the door, pulling a bag over Jesse’s head and dragging him out. Benji tried to stop one of them to ask why he hadn’t been chosen.

They pushed him away and left before he was able to get a straight answer. He thought he heard one of them mutter “because you’re a frickin’ weirdo,” but he couldn’t be sure.

Sighing he fell back onto his bed, wallowing in the shame and misery of not only being snubbed by the Trebles, but receiving no call from ANY of the other two acapella groups either.

Maybe this wouldn’t be the year everything got better. But Benji had really believed it would.

He spent most of the evening practicing his magic tricks because he couldn’t afford to get rusty. Once he thought he practiced enough, he allowed himself some relaxation time.

Benji lay in his bed with his silk handkerchief, listening to the sounds of the initiation party outside. The acapella groups were celebrating right outside his window at the outdoor amphitheater. Their music was loud enough that he could hear and he loved this song.

Singing along sadly to Keep Your Head Up, he clutched his silk in his hands, telling himself not to cry. But he wanted to.

It wasn’t fair. Benji thought his audition had gone well. He didn’t understand why no one wanted him in their group. He was just too weird, he guessed.

In that moment he pushed his silk back into its container, vowing that from this point on he’d try harder to be normal so people would like him.

After that major disappointment, Benji focused on his schoolwork.

Although he’d come to Barden intending to major as an 18th century illusionist, he was starting to question his decision. He filled out the change of major forms, changing his major to science instead. After all, his physics class was his absolute favorite, and there was a lot of cool stuff to learn.

Around the dorm room, the Trebles became a subject of contention between himself and Jesse. He was still a little bitter about their snubbing him, and he didn’t really want to hear about how fun their rehearsals were or what songs they were planning to do for sectionals.

But when sectionals themselves rolled around, he told himself he had to support Jesse. Benji swallowed his pride and attended the competition, sitting impatiently in the audience as he waited for the only group that mattered to perform. Practically everyone here was here to see them anyway.

The boys took the stage with their version of Right Round and damn if it wasn’t the coolest thing he’d ever heard. Jesse’s voice really lent well to the group and took their sound to a whole other level.

That’s why when the performance drew to a close, Benji jumped eagerly up from his seat, waving his foam finger in the air like a rabid sports fan.

He did this again when it was announced that the Treblemakers had taken first place.

“That’s right!” he shouted to anyone who was listening, proud of Jesse and the other Trebles for a job well done.

Benji made sure to congratulate Jesse afterward. His friend apologized to him when he left him there to go to a post-sectionals party with the rest of the Trebles.

Benji knew he wasn’t wanted and he shrugged it off, returning to his dorm to fill out his character sheet for his new found Dungeons and Dragons roleplay group. He’d met a few guys and surprisingly, some girls, too, in his science class that were into D&D. They apparently were starting a campaign soon and they offered for him to join.

Benji knew he wasn’t really making any strides in the getting less weird campaign. He’d pretty much given up. At least now he had a group of people he could be himself around. It reminded him a lot of his friend group back home.

And of course he always had Jesse, not that his roommate would have time to play D&D what with all the Trebles rehearsals he had to attend.

Benji had an interesting character concept for a druid that he was looking forward to playing. He wondered vaguely about what his partners would choose as their own character class.

It had been a while since he played D&D and he hoped the Dungeon Master was experienced. The whole campaign would go awry if it wasn’t carefully planned.

He was sketching out his character for the hell of it when Jesse finally came back. He was a little tipsy and stumbled inside, throwing off his jacket and settling onto his bed.

“Oh, hey Ben, what’s up?” Jesse slurred good-naturedly, leaning into his pillow.

“Just doin’ a sketch,” Benji murmured, still a little hurt by Jesse blowing him off earlier.

“Dude, I’m sorry ‘bout tonight. I wanted you to come but Bumper’s a dick.”

“It’s not a problem,” he put away his sketchpad and sighed, “I understand. He and the other Trebles don’t like me very much. I don’t blame them. I’m a total loser.”

“Are not!” Jesse argued, “Come here, man, seriously. Come here.”

“What?”

“Come. Here.”

Uncertain as to why Jesse was asking him to come over to his bed, Benji swallowed nervously, feeling his heart flutter a little. He slid off of his bed and walked over to Jesse’s, plopping down beside of him.

“What?” he asked.

“I think you are great. Like seriously great. I couldn’t have asked for a better roommate. I love hanging out with you, watching movies, having lightsaber fights. I love singing with you. I really wanted to be in the Trebles with you. Mostly it’s Bumper that doesn’t like you, and like I said he’s a dick. Just don’t bother with him, okay? If anything he graduates this year and you’re totally a shoe in next year,” Jesse promised with a wide smile.

“You think?”

“I know.”

A grin settled onto Benji’s face and before he realized just how stupid it was, he leaned in and gave Jesse a kiss on the lips. His roommate pushed him away, startled by the sudden contact.

Benji stammered his apologies and abruptly left the room. When he was halfway down the hall, he realized he had nowhere to go and so he opted for the lobby, curling up in a chair.

He kept replaying the moment over and over again in his head. He was such an idiot. What on earth would make him think it was a good idea to kiss his very straight, very cute roommate?

Benji eventually fell asleep in the chair, woken the next morning by his fellow dorm mates passing through.

“Did you really stay in a chair all night?” Jesse asked when he saw him again later that day.

“What?”

“Some kid told me he saw you sleeping in one of the chairs in the lobby last night,” he explained.

“Yeah. I figured I should stay away, after I…you know,” Benji responded miserably.

Jesse shook his head, “No, man, it’s cool. I’m not upset with you,” he assured him, his expression frustratingly unreadable, “I mean, I’d rather you didn’t do that again, but I’m not gonna kick your ass or be freaked out by you. I’m not that kinda guy. But I really…I’m flattered, dude. I am. But I’m not really interested in you like that.  Are you—you know—gay?”

Benji sighed.

“I’m not sure. I mean, I’ve always thought Han Solo was really hot, but Leia too, you know? I guess…I’m not really sure what I am,” he answered as honestly as he could.

“Man. Even I think Han Solo is hot.”

“Really?”

“Totally,” Jesse let out a laugh, “so, can I ask you something else?”

His roommate shrugged, figuring he could handle any question that Jesse would throw at him.

“Why’d you do it? Kiss me…I mean.”

“Cause, you’re like really nice to me, Jesse. You said all these nice things about me and no one ever says stuff like that to me and I just got a little carried away. I just wanted to show you that I appreciated your compliments, I guess. It’s not like I get them often. Or at all, really, unless you count things my mother says, but she’s pretty much required to say those things and you’re not so I’m guessing you mean them.”

“Well, yeah, I do mean them. And I’m glad you appreciate it. Just…a hug next time would be good. Or just words. Your lips on mine aren’t really—uh—well. Anyway,” Jesse chuckled awkwardly.

“Understood,” Benji nodded.

“Cool. I should go to class but I’ll see you later.”

That weekend was the first night of the new D&D campaign. He met the group in one of the open rooms in the library that their DM rented for them.

Benji walked in wearing his cape and was amazed and pleased to find he wasn’t the only one wearing a cape. Actually in this case he was probably the least nerdy one in the room. This was something he was quite proud of.

Joseph, the Dungeon Master, was a bulky guy with thick rimmed glasses and a goatee. He sat at the end of the table in a swivel chair, dramatically explaining to the players what the setting and story was going to be for their campaign. He had each of them introduce their characters before they began.

They were all really into the game when Benji’s cell phone went off.

Soft Kitty, a comedic song from Big Bang Theory, played loudly from his Droid. He apologized to his new friends, who merely complimented him on his good choice in ringtone.  He answered the phone call. He saw that the caller was Jesse on the front of the device.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Benj. Where are you? I really need to talk to someone,” Jesse sounded sad and pathetic on the other end of the phone, which tugged at Benji’s heart strings.

“At the library, what’s up? Are you okay? You sound upset,” Benji asked worriedly.

“Beca still won’t talk to me after our fight. You know, the one where she got all mad at me because I—”

“Called her dad and she didn’t want you to? Yeah, I remember, you told me about it like twenty times,” he said, looking apologetic toward the other nerds in the room, “is it important? I’m kind of in the middle of something. But if you really need me I’ll head over to the room.”

“No, no, no, it’s fine. Have fun at the library.”

“Wait, Jesse—” It was too late. He’d already hung up.

Benji sighed, replacing the phone in his pocket and apologizing once again.

“Was that your girlfriend?” Melvin, a ginger with unfortunate halitosis, asked from his seat across the table from Benji.

“No.”

“Boyfriend?”

“No.”

“So you’re single?” The chubby girl next to him wondered. Her name was Abby, if he remembered correctly.

Benji nodded emphatically then begged them to move on with the game. And so they did.

By the time he returned to the room, Jesse was passed out in bed. Strangely, though, it wasn’t his own bed. It was Benji’s bed he was sleeping on.

Stepping toward his bed, he gingerly patted Jesse on the shoulder but received no response. Benji cleared his throat loudly. No response.

He pushed harder on Jesse’s form and shouted his name and suddenly the nicely built boy on his bed awoke with a start.

“Oh, Benj! Hi!” he was grinning like a maniac. It was weird.

“Uh, hi. What are you doing in my bed?”

“It was closer,” Jesse admitted, yawning.

That was when Benji smelled the alcohol on his breath. He moved back, crossing his legs and looking at Jesse with a sigh.

“How much did you have to drink?” he asked him with concern.

“I dunno, like, five beers?”

Benji took out the BAC chart he had in his wallet and scanned it.

“What are you, 140? 160?”

“What the hell is that?” Jesse grabbed it from his hands and then laughed, “Blood alcohol…that’s stupid! Why do you have this?”

Taking the chart back, he returned it to his wallet on the bedside table.

“I have it for situations such as these, and also because my mom thought it was a good idea, but we’re not talking about me, Jesse. You’re very drunk, and this is the like fourth time I’ve seen you like this, and I’m worried you’re starting to build bad habits. If we don’t nip this in the bud, you’re going to—”

Jesse cut him off with an unexpected kiss, launching forward and bringing his lips to Benji’s. Benji pulled away breathlessly, bringing his fingers to his lips.

“What was that?” he whispered.

“I don’t know. You wanted me to kiss you,” Jesse admitted, his voice slurring enough to jolt Benji back into the reality that was his drunkenness.

“You’re drunk, Jesse and I’m here, that’s all it is. Please just…go back to sleep. I’ll take your bed tonight.”

He hopped off his bed and moved to Jesse’s. He looked over at him to find he had passed out again rather easily.

Benji changed into his pajamas and sighed to himself before crawling beneath Jesse’s covers. His blankets smelled like him, something that both bothered and comforted him.

The next morning neither of them spoke about what had happened. Benji guessed from Jesse’s legendary hangover that he didn’t remember anything that had happened last night. He chalked his roommate’s behavior up to way more than five drinks and probably not enough adequate sustenance.

He pretended the kiss didn’t happen, even though it kept popping into his mind at the most inopportune times, like when he was lighting the Bunsen burner in Chemistry class.

The following few weeks consisted of mounds of homework, D&D on the weekends and general avoidance of Jesse. They hung out a few times but not as frequently as before, due to the increase in Jesse’s Treble rehearsal schedule and Benji’s reluctance to be alone with him.

Despite the awkwardness between them, Benji came to support Jesse at regionals.

By some bizarre twist of fate, the stage manager got food poisoning and had to leave. Benji was thrust into the role, given a headset and a clipboard and the job of ushering the acapella groups on stage.

It was a cool gig, and he enjoyed the view from backstage. He felt like he was where the action was, getting to listen to the groups prep and give their speeches. He even got goose bumps when he heard the Treblemakers do their ‘1, 2, 3, swag!’ hand sweep.

“Trebles, time to bring the pain!” he announced to the boys after the Bellas had performed.

Just as they were getting ready to go on stage, Benji heard the fight break out between Beca and the Bellas. Beca had done a little improvisation with their routine after their typical performance bored the entire audience.

Benji admired her bravery, even if the whole ordeal ended up falling pretty flat. It was still better than it would have been otherwise.

She was being chewed out by the lead Bella, Aubrey, who honestly kind of scared Benji a little. The entire thing got even worse when Jesse jumped in.

He assured Aubrey that there was nothing going on between himself and Beca, which pleased Benji but not Beca. She was apparently not happy with him butting in and she got royally pissed off, walking away in a huff.

“Beca! Beca, wait,” Benji was concerned for her. He walked after her, trying to follow her down the hallway. She moved ridiculously fast for such a tiny girl, though, and she didn’t really seem to want to stop for him.

He sighed, watching her walk away when something caught his eye. The parents of that kid in the amazing acapella group from earlier.

They were heading out and the mom was carrying a canvas bag that bore the JFK High School logo. His eyes widened when he realized what this meant. The star of their acapella team was not in college after all.

Benji hurried backstage and found one of the people in charge, telling her about what he’d just seen. She insisted that she’d talk to the judges and they’d investigate his claim. She also told him that if it what he thought was true, that the group would be disqualified.

If that happened the Bellas still had a chance at winning! Even though he hadn’t been able to help Beca when she was upset, he knew he’d done the right thing here.

He wasn’t even sure why he cared so much about Beca and her feelings, when the boy he was so pathetically crushing on had eyes for her instead.

He should’ve been jealous and hated her for it. But, for Benji, it was impossible to have bad feelings toward Beca. She was so laid back and cool. He thought she was actually really awesome. He couldn’t blame Jesse for liking her.

She reminded him a little bit of the protagonist of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She even wore similar earrings to the actress in the American made film of the same name. Both of them were smart, sexy and badass. Benji could definitely imagine her kicking someone’s ass and riding a motorcycle like Lisbeth did.

He and Beca had actually had few good conversations whenever she was over hanging out with Jesse. It wasn’t that they had a ton in common, but she was super nice to him and she had no reason to be. Benji almost considered her a friend.

Spring break was a whole lot of fun for Benji, a nice escape from the dramatic world he’d grown so used to at Barden. He didn’t have to deal with Jesse’s problems or the stress of homework. He was able to lounge around in sleepwear all day, playing XBOX live with all his old friends.

He was actually pretty bummed when he had to return to Atlanta. Once he saw Jesse again all his negative feelings disappeared.

Deciding as always not to be selfish, he asked Jesse about the situation with Beca. Apparently they still weren’t talking, although not without a lot of effort on Beca’s part otherwise.

She’d apparently left him several messages, texts and even emails, and somehow he’d successfully ignored them all. He even managed to pull opposite shifts at the radio station, which was honestly a feat.

Benji just wanted them to get together already so that Jesse would stop being so miserable all the time. He was not a lot of fun to be around when he was grumpy and sad.

Benji would probably throw himself off the roof of dorm building if he had to suffer through one more viewing of _any_ of John Hughes’ movies.

On one particular miserable afternoon during Jesse’s second viewing of Some Kind of Wonderful, there was a knock at the door.

Benji was busy practicing his sword routine which involved a person-sized wooden box. He knew the person at the door was likely not for him and so he stayed hidden in the box, listening in on the conversation between Beca and Jesse.

She seemed genuinely apologetic but he didn’t want to listen. Jesse was apparently upset because Beca kept pushing him away, a habit she’d grown accustomed to. Benji felt for her even though he had the opposite problem, and once he heard the door close he popped back up out of the box to make sure Jesse was okay.

“Women,” Benji offered.

“Yeah.”

Jesse sounded absolutely dejected. He had this kicked puppy dog look in his eyes that Benji couldn’t even handle right now without cooing over him like some overzealous pet owner.

Instead he withdrew into the box again. It was surprisingly comfortable inside there, actually, and the swords managed to work properly. He was pleased.

Benji had to deal with a couple more weeks of Jesse’s moping.

In those weeks he told himself Jesse would never forgive him if he found a mutilated copy of the Breakfast Club in the lobby microwave. But damn it if he didn’t want to destroy the DVD that Jesse seemed to play at every given moment. He actually saw him CRYING over the ending of the film. Crying, like full on ugly crying that would have resulted in mascara stains on his cheeks if he’d been wearing it.

But then something happened, something huge. Something that changed Benji’s life forever.

Jesse came home seeming more chipper than usual. This left Benji wondering if maybe he’d finally made up with Beca. He hadn’t.

He told Benji that Bumper had abandoned the Treblemakers to work with John Mayer.

“John Mayer! The guy’s a total douche!” Benji gasped.

“Agreed, but not the point,” Jesse redirected him, explaining that they had a spot open and it was his if he wanted it, so long as he acted relatively normal around the guys.

Benji agreed, ecstatically clasping his hands together as he realized his dream had finally come true. He was going to be a Barden Treblemaker. He had to call his mom!

He did. She was proud of him, too, promising that she’d come to finals and watch him perform.

Suddenly Benji was hit with rehearsals every single day, forcing him to withdraw from the D&D campaign much to the disappointment of his fellow nerds. He threw himself into acapella and acapella did not disappoint.

Jesse came up with the brilliant idea that Benji would sing Magic, a B.O.B. song, interweaved with his own version of Cee-Lo’s Bright Lights, Bigger City. He was trying to incorporate something Benji was passionate about into the routine, and Benji could not be happier.

Acapella and magic, his two favorite things besides Star wars, brought together in one moment of bliss.

Rehearsals went so well it was like a dream, and Benji tried his best to tone down the dorky behavior, fighting back the urge to try on Donald’s glasses or feel Unicycle’s amazing abs. But it wasn’t easy.

But it sure was worth it, he thought as he stood in the wings on stage at the ICCAs. Jesse was standing center stage, belting it out and looking studly in his maroon velour jacket.

 He worked the crowd while standing at the microphone, earning more than a few feminine shrieks from the audience when he stepped out from behind it and began his whole Justin Timberlake routine.

He shook his hips and sang like the angel he was, causing a roar from guys and girls both in the audience and maybe a little stirring in Benji’s pants…damn. It was time for him to take the stage.

Taking a deep breath he descended, walking on stage with his fist clenched. He shared a nervous look with Jesse before he stepped forward, clutching the microphone tight with Vulcan death grip.

And then he started singing. Benji immediately relaxed, feeling at home on stage with the Trebles behind him singing backup like a choir from heaven. He got more into the song and he actually heard people cheering for him.

The dancing commenced and Benji tried his best, flubbing a few steps but congratulating himself anyway for not tripping and falling during the performance. Some of the choreography came from him and Jesse’s lightsaber battles, something that he was more than a little proud of.

On stage with the Trebles, the audience going wild, Benji felt like he finally belonged somewhere. And not in a nerds sitting at a table playing a roleplaying game sort of way. In an actually doing something that mattered and receiving recognition for his talent sort of way, which was much more rewarding.

 He felt tears in his eyes when their routine concluded, choked up with pride for himself and happiness for getting to live out his dream.

Jesse glanced at him with a grin and pulled him in for a warm hug. Benji leaned into him and sighed happily before they parted and he led them off stage.

The Bellas performed next and Benji sat beside of Jesse in the audience as the Bellas did their routine. They sounded better than ever and he had to count to keep track of how many songs they’d put into their performance.

He looked over at Jesse when he heard that stupid song that Jesse had not stopped playing for the past few weeks.

Beca had apparently chosen that song on purpose, and Benji noticed Jesse getting a little choked up. He even did that stupid arm raise thing like the rebel guy did in the movie.

 Benji rolled his eyes a little, but inside he was mostly glad that Beca was reaching out. Glad but a little jealous. Jealous but a little glad…

When their performance came to an end, the audience began a standing ovation. Benji and Jesse stood as well, feeling the Bellas deserved the ovation.

“They’re probably gonna win,” Benji said offhandedly, he didn’t even care at this point if they won.

He’d gotten his wish and that was all that mattered. As the Bellas left the stage, Beca came running down the aisle to Jesse.

Benji stood there as Beca brought their lips crashing together, trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Yeah, definitely more jealous than glad.

The two lovebirds joined hands and walked together with the rest of the Bellas and Trebles, who had agreed to go out for dinner together afterwards.

 Benji tried to stay positive, replaying his moment on stage instead of sending eye daggers at Beca and Jesse. He didn’t even notice when the blonde leader of the Bellas came up beside of him.

“You have an amazing voice,” she told him, causing him to look up and almost jump as they approached the Treble bus.

“What?” he said absently.

“You’re a great singer. I thought so at auditions. You blew me away. I would’ve totally picked you for my group if our group was co-ed,” Aubrey admitted, smiling a little at him and not looking menacing at all, “I was surprised when the Trebles didn’t pick you right away.”

“Yeah, well. Bumper didn’t like me,” Benji told her earnestly as they got into the bus.

He was surprised when Aubrey took a seat next to him, genuinely interested in holding a conversation with him. His eyes drifted over to Jesse and Beca before he settled them on the girl beside him.

“For the record, Bumper’s pretty much the worst person to ever exist, so his opinion means even more than nothing to me.”

“Even more than nothing? That’s not…that’s not a thing. You can’t have more than nothing, otherwise that’s…something,” Benji stammered, his hands getting a little clammy. He wiped them on his pants.

“Huh. I guess you’re right,” Aubrey laughed.

“Uh,” Benji wasn’t used to conversations with female persons, what was he even supposed to talk about?

“So I heard you like Star Wars…”

“I do!” his ears perked up, “why? Do you?”

Aubrey nodded, leaning in closer.

“I’m kind of a closet Star Wars fan, but yes, I love Star Wars. Leia is definitely one of my top feminist icons of all time,” she was so close to him when she said this that it actually made him blush.

“I—yeah, that’s—she’s g-great,” he looked down, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket, “why are you talking to me? I thought you hated the Trebles.”

“Eh. That was mostly Bumper that I hated.  Besides, the competition year is over. And you seem sweet.”

“I do?” Benji gave her a smile so bright it rivaled the intensity of the sun.

“You really, really do,” she dropped her voice, her hand settling onto his knee, “so; do you want to see me in my gold bikini sometime?”

It was like something out of a wet dream. His eyes widened a little and he crossed his legs, hoping Aubrey didn’t notice anything strange going on in his crotchal area.

“YES.”

“Great, and maybe when we get back to Barden we could have ourselves a little Star Wars marathon. What do you think?” Aubrey offered.

She seemed a lot less uptight now that she didn’t have competitions and the Bellas to worry about anymore. She wasn’t the Darth Vader character that Beca made her out to be.

Benji grinned, “I think yes.”

This time when he looked over at Jesse, the pang of jealousy he felt was lessened. Instead he felt Aubrey’s hand, which was still placed on his knee, along with the realization that he’d finally made it in life.

He had friends, an awesome acapella group, a girl who was seemingly interested in him, AND he didn’t have to sacrifice who he was to gain any of those things. It was safe to say Benji had never been happier.


End file.
